Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to serving trays for use by individuals and/or members of the food services industry, and specifically for serving trays for transporting stemware articles.
Description of the Related Art
At various commercial or business-related, as well as at restaurants and individually hosted parties and gatherings, refreshments, such as food and drink, are often served to attendees. During these very social functions, attendees are often in different areas and refreshments must be brought out to them.
The typical utensil utilized in transporting refreshments to the above mentioned attendees is the basic tray, a flat, typically circular surface that an individual supports from the bottom and upon which the individual places multiple refreshments to be delivered to the attendees.
There are several disadvantages to using the above mentioned basic tray in the transport of refreshments to and from guests. For example, certain refreshments, notably, drinks, are particularly susceptible to changes in motion of the underlying tray, which can result in unwanted spillage, breakage of glass, and possible injury to server and/or attendee. The glasses containing the drinks can easily move and slide along the top of the tray and, especially in the case of stemware glasses (such as wine, martini, and champagne glasses), can topple over completely. Furthermore, it is difficult for servers utilizing these basic trays to properly balance various refreshments on the tray's surface and thus stabilize the tray; this is especially true as servers are loading objects on and removing objects from the tray and thus affecting the weight distribution of objects on the tray.
Thus, an improved serving tray comprising various features to improve the stability and safety of refreshments during transportation is needed.